Warm Their Hearts with the Will of Fire
by taking it easy
Summary: Naruto is a boy who was always abused in his childhood. In Kishimoto's story, he laughed it off, saying that he would be respected someday. There was also pranking involved. In this story, he took it. He let them have their fun. Why did he do this? Simple. Because he got it.


_Hear me out, Naruto: when he was a kid, he pulled pranks and screwed with people, and the people beat him up and shunned him._

_In this story, it'll be different. Naruto will be different. Not DarkNaruto, just a dark tale._

_Oh yeah, and I found out a little something. I can only write while listening to music. TV or radio or people will always distract me, and silence bores me._

_Now, I give unto thee, _Warm Their Hearts with the Will of Fire.

_Streets of Konoha_

Walking down the street towards his home, a young boy, at the tender age of eight, was heading home from practicing his ninjutsu at a pond. He couldn't wait to show off what he could as soon as he could.

He was so happy with his progress that almost missed some mean civilians bullying a poor kid that looked to be his age.

Looking closer, he noticed the bullied child was a classmate of his, although he failed to remember the kid's name. Glaring at the drunks that were kicking the kid, who was just lying on the ground, he swiftly jumped in to rescue his classmate.

What surprised the would-be hero is that the one whom he was defending was the one that stopped him.

The bruised kid held his arm up as the civilians kept hitting him.

"Naruto," The dark-haired boy thought as he recognized the boy. After a moment, he saw the smaller boy was wearing a pair of brown shorts that were thoroughly caked in mud, and a red shirt that he wasn't so sure had started out red.

He was barefooted and his arms and legs looked fractured and possibly broken.

The poor boy's hair was blotched with blood and dirt, and it was lying flattened on his head. His whisker marks blended in with all the still bleeding cuts on his face, and his eyes…

His eyes… They shocked Sasuke the most. They looked so bright and happy. Happier than they should have looked considering the situation. Naruto looked as if he was happy to be taking the pain.

Tuning back in to the resent, he saw the blonde lad, who was half curled in the fetal position, ending up what seemed to b a hidden message on his face.

"… So just let them have their fun, okay?" Sasuke's face scrunched up in confusion. He was certain that he'd read that wrong. But… It was clear, and Sasuke was good at reading face messages. Maybe Naruto didn't know how to make the right words?

Taking another good look at the whiskered boy's face, Sasuke knew he wasn't mistaken. The boy had resigned himself to the beating a long time ago.

Frowning, the Uchiha walked away. The drunken civilians never having known what had just taken place.

_Hokage Office_

An old man sat in his big chair and gazed sadly into his crystal ball. Wanting to cry the tears he had drained out so long ago, he simply watched the young boy as he let himself get beaten so badly.

He stared at the happy faces of the villagers, but couldn't bring himself to get angry. His sadness overwhelmed any other emotion he could've felt at the time.

Seeing a man resign himself to death, such as Sakumo Hatake, the legendary White Fang of Konoha, was hard for a leader and lover to do. Watching a kid whom he had cared for and watched over resign himself to the same fate, however, was impossible.

Yet… He couldn't bear to take his eyes away.

He took a long, hard drag out of his pipe and sighed.

_Back with Naruto_

The blonde boy in question stared at the ground as the villagers finally left. Once they were out of sight, he shakily got up and left the scene before the medics arrived. He made sure to clean up the blood and any other evidence until it looked as if nothing happened at all.

He limped away with a smile, clearing his tracks away thoroughly before he jumped into a sewer to head towards his home.

_Hokage Office Again_

The old man sighed again as he muttered, "Why do you do this to yourself, Naruto?"

He thought about confronting the boy again, but decided against it. The past attempts never yielded results, another wouldn't work either.

_Back on the Streets_

A young girl with blue hair watched with a broken heart as the boy she so admired took the beating with a smile and never did anything. Sighing as the boy delved into the sewer again to get away, she made her way back to her house.

_Next Day, at the Academy_

Naruto sauntered into the classroom with a giant grin on his face, all healed up from the day before.

Sasuke glanced at the boy, and was surprised Naruto was unhurt. Deciding to confront the boy about it, Sasuke walked up to the back row, where Naruto was sitting alone.

Taking the seat beside the blonde he settled himself and leaned back.

Trying to be casual, he asked, "So, what was that yesterday? Why were those guys beating you up?"

The first thing that happened was Naruto tensed up and quickly answered, "Nothing."

With quickly growing irritation and fading composure, Sasuke asked louder, "What do you mean, 'Nothing'? Those guys were trashing you! Why didn't you accept my help?"

"That was nothing, Sasuke." Naruto tried to explain, his grin failing.

"Bullshit!" The Uchiha was yelling now, startling the class, "Those bastards were fucking killing you! And you just sat there and took it! You took it like a bitch and let them walk away! I offered to help you, but you denied, dammit! You just took it with that god-damned smile on your fucking face!" Sasuke was openly glaring at Naruto, "That's not 'Nothing'!"

Looking away, Naruto simply replied, "You just don't get it…"

Sasuke's eyes widened, along with the rest of the class, as Naruto walked away, ignoring Iruka.


End file.
